The sound felt so obvious that every eye zeroed in on its source, then… the scene froze. The air, charged, so pregnant with a tension so thick that it had looked ready to burst, collapsed, all because of the flip-flop on the foot that came down.
Right, a flip-flop. While everyone had been waiting for an awesome entrance, the shoe that could not have been any more casual brought such a sense of contrast and disharmony that it felt like… a kind of middle finger at all the solemnity.
It was an attack that went straight for the heart, an attack that shattered both expectation and perception. And in that silence that felt deathly, the second foot came down, followed by a sound that couldn't have been more jarring.
*Slurp~ Slurp~ Slurp~ Bang!*
Alex pressed the door of the car shut with his right hand, producing a dull noise as he appeared before everyone. Just as his feet were not shod in the heavy military boots expected to go with the car, the rest of his attire was just as much in a clash with the style of his ride.
With shorts below and a casual beach shirt left open on a white undershirt above, his left hand was raised, holding a disposable cup connected to his lips by a large straw. And it was him sucking the content of the cup through the connection with an air that could not have been any more uncaring which produced the previous slurping sound.
Seeing the many stagnant eyes on him, he freed his lips and let out a light laugh:
"Heh, what a warm welcome…"
The number of lips that twitched might rival the total number of spectators around. Even Lance, who had slowed down despite himself a second earlier, shook his head, before he walked over with a smile, arms opened for a hug:
"You finally arrived."
*Clap*
They clasped their hands loudly, then shared a bro hug, a gesture Alex repeated with Tyler who arrived a step behind. It was then that he looked up and swept his eyes over the scene.
His gaze paused on Ron, then went to stop on Sharon. Raising an eyebrow, he returned his mouth to the previous activity, before asking:
"Slurp~ Did I interrupt anything fun?"
The question was the spark, the oxygen that breathed life in the dead fire. The stagnant feeling melted under the reviving heat as the crowd came back to life.
Lance raised his eyebrows. He looked back at Kris, who was right behind, then stifled a laugh at the expression held tight to avoid a collapse, and turned back to provide an answer while pointing at Ron and Sharon:
"We are having a bet between Ron and our famous actress of a guest, a date against a Ferrari SF90."
Alex didn't seem to see Lance's first movement, only the second one. His face brightened up with surprise, then he waved at the crowd with a smile:
"Wow! Then what are we waiting for, right?!"
The warming atmosphere regained its explosivity right then:
"Yeah!!!"
"Come on, Ron!!! Hurry and lose!!!"
"Damn!! I will bet on Ron, how can he lose?!! Don't you dare lose the race, Ron!!!"
Ron smiled, nodded toward Alex, then glanced at Sharon. Unfortunately, the blonde was not paying attention to him. While waiting for the butterfly door of her sports car to rise up, her gaze was lingering on the famous playboy beside the dark beast.
Ron took a frustrated, slightly stuttering breath, glanced once again toward the trio beside the dark beast, took his gaze back, and opened the door of his car to step inside.
As the Ferrari Spider and the Lamborghini Revuelto moved to go to the track, Kris's expression finally collapsed. His eyes darkened, as he looked at Alex laughing while enjoying the cold drink in his hand, all the while, while ignoring him, who was right in front of him, just a few meters away.
The scene made him grit his teeth, and clench his fist, the darkness in his eyes looking ready to turn into fire that would jump out.
"Who do you think will win?"
Lance posed the question leaning on the front of the dark beast, arms crossed and a smile on his face as he looked at the feed on the giant screen. The two competing cars were already the center of the attention of the cameras all over the venue.
Alex didn't answer immediately. He looked at the screen while leaning sideways against the door of the car. On the display, the Lamborghini and the Ferrari were arriving at the starting line. With a slight adjustment in focus, the cameras facing them managed to pierce through the reflection of the windshields and expose the drivers inside the sports cars.
*Beep*
*Vroom~ Vroom~*
As the counter was being set, the two started revving the engines. And as they did, they turned toward each other in an exchange of what seemed like a challenging look that turned the heat of the venue up further.
"Wow!!!"
But unlike most, Alex noticed something. His eyes glinted with a smile as his lips curled up even while latching tightly onto the straw:
"Slurp~ Ron will lose."
"Huh?"
Not just Lance, even Tyler behind Alex raised his eyebrows and exclaimed with the same feeling of surprise as the blond. Then, following the surprise came amusement. It had nothing to do with being biased, it was just instinctive. It was not even because Ron's opponent was a woman. They just had more trust in the skills of the one they knew rather than a stranger.
So, they glanced at Alex, then turned to the screen to search the video for the reasons behind his words. After a while, a quiet exclamation came from behind Alex:
"Oh…"
The playboy glanced back, smiled at the look of realization on Tyler's face. But Lance, after scrutinizing the display in vain, pouted:
"I still don't believe it. Ron won't lose. He can't lose against someone who is half an amateur."
*Slurp~*
Sucking the last bit of the drink in his disposable cup, Alex gave Lance a deep smile and proposed teasingly:
"Really? Then, let's bet?"